This idyllic picture is not my kid. No, this heartwarming photo of a baby cheerfully looking forward to what his mum serves him looks nothing like the picture of me trying to get food into my baby.
The issue is not, however, that Galen refuses food. In fact, Galen seems to greatly enjoy some things. My milk is the primary highlight to his diet, of course. But Galen also really likes chicken stock and water. If you’re giving Galen chicken stock or water from a spoon he looks like the baby in the photograph.
But the reason you haven’t seen many updates on “feeding Galen” since my first post is that feeding him has really not gone anywhere. When we try and feed him anything with any sort of texture, Galen cannot swallow it. There have been a few meals here and there where we’ve gotten tiny amounts into him. When I say tiny I’m talking around 1/16th of a teaspoon. TINY. But mostly Galen just gags when solid foods get to his tongue. And that means that anything that was in his belly comes back up. Even his mama milk.
Initially I didn’t worry too much about his disinterest in solid foods. And at this point I’m still trying not to worry. Cassidy was also late starting solid foods. The difference is that when Cassidy started she was already ready to go with finger foods. She was happy feeding herself and she could get almost anything down.
Galen doesn’t put much in his mouth. If we give him bits of finger foods he just moves them around on his tray. He doesn’t put them in his mouth. He chews on his fingers (and my hair, eww). And that’s about it.
He can’t eat even pureed food. So for right now his nutrition is coming 100% from nursing. I’m working hard to make sure I’m eating well for him so he’s getting good, rich milk. And we try with solids every few days to see if what seems to be a texture aversion is lessening. I’ve gotten a lot of suggestions for things, and I’m researching around. I’ve also talked it over with his doctor. For a couple of weeks at least we’re in a “wait and see” mode. But this is very different from what I experienced with the other kids. There’s always so much to learn, and children always have such different needs. Parenting is definitely the most challenging job out there 
4 Comments
Hang in there sweetie. Remember that MacKenna had severe oral aversions and didn’t really start taking solids until she was about 15 months old. I just read recently that babies can thrive on breastmilk alone for the first TWO years of their lives, not the first one that was previously being touted.
Don’t panic! I had the same issue with my youngest. She refused everything we offered, until we discovered that she would get something down only if it was served on my plate. And this happened when she was almost a year! Meanwhile her only ‘food’ was my milk and she was perfectly healthy. Of course at a point I almost freaked, and the doctor said “don’t worry, she’ll have plenty of time to learn to eat”. That was a big releaver for us, since the experience with our oldest was totally the opposite.
Thank you ladies for your reassurances, they really do help me. Pretty much everybody is telling me not to worry, but as you know it’s hard not to worry when you’re a Mama.
He is bright and happy and meeting his other milestones so I’m just going to focus on enjoying nursing him and letting him get to solids in his own time
In the same boat with my 7 month old! But she won’t eat anything from a spoon. Cries at the sight of the spoon! i try every few days but no success. This is so stressful and this is my 3rd baby. I just hope we get something in soon. ( And I really hope we can at least stretch her nursing sessions out to at least a few hours soon! Nursing 5 times or more at night is killing me.)